Hearts address Lawrence Shankland Rangers rumours as new signings targeted ahead of Premiership opener
Hearts manager Steven Naismith has insisted that there has been no approach from any club for talisman Lawrence Shankland despite fresh reports linking him with a move to Rangers.
It has been claimed that the Hearts and Scotland striker is on the Ibrox club’s wanted list ahead of the William Hill Scottish Premiership opener between the two sides at Tynecastle Park this Saturday lunchtime.
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Hide AdHowever, Naismith is adamant that he is unaware of any interest in his captain – who has a year left on his deal – as Shankland prepares to begin his third season with the Gorgie outfit after scoring 59 goals across the previous two campaigns since joining from Belgian side Beerschot.


“There’s no change,” the Hearts boss said. “There’s been all these reports coming out going down every avenue. ‘He’s leaving’, ‘he’s maybe leaving’, ‘he’s on a list’, ‘he’s not on a list’. But we’ve had no conversations about any of our players.
“We had conversations about Alex Cochrane (who was sold to Birmingham) that developed into something that was serious and the deal got done because everybody was satisfied with it but we have had no information, no contact with anybody about any other player at the club.”
Naismith also revealed Hearts are close to adding another new signing ahead of the Rangers clash amid reports that midfielder Malachi Boateng is set to join on a permanent deal from Crystal Palace following a loan spell at Dundee last season.
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Hide AdThe Jambos have already bolstered their squad significantly this summer with the additions of Yan Dhanda, Blair Spittal, James Penrice, Gerald Taylor, Ryan Fulton, Musa Drammeh and Daniel Oyegoke. And manager Naismith expects to have another new recruit in the door in time for their league curtain-raiser..
“We’re happy we got those players in early, it makes a difference because the longer the players are here, the more settled they become. We learned that from last pre-season,” he told Sky Sports on Wednesday morning.
“We’ll hopefully have one more in today that will improve us and then after that, it’s more about reacting to anything that happens. There has been a lot of work over the last two or three days to get the deal over the line and it will hopefully get done in time that we can have him available for the weekend.”
Rangers could also have a new face in their line-up for the trip to Edinburgh amid reports that they are close to signing Dutch centre-back Robin Propper from FC Twente as a replacement for Connor Goldson, who completed a move to Cypriot side Aris Limassol for an undisclosed fee on Tuesday.
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Hide AdThe 31-year-old made over 300 appearances for Rangers and was a linchpin of the defence over the past six years but manager Philippe Clement sanctioned his departure in order to free up wages for new additions.
And the Belgian has quickly identified FC Twente captain Pröpper as the man to fill Goldson’s boots with a move already close to completion. According to reports, the 30-year-old arrived in the UK on Wednesday to undergo a medical and could be signed in time to face Hearts on Saturday.
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